STOCKTON Mike Bonar and Susan Chamberlain have walked into Stockton Arena to watch hockey since 2005. But every October is a new experience.

The Stockton Heat began the 2016 17 season against the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday at Stockton Arena, and 5,745 fans greeted the home team. There was the usual pomp and circumstance of opening night Mike Smith Jersey, a few changes to the arena, and the freshness that comes with a clean slate.

We get excited every time, said Chambers, 64, who is from Lodi. It s always fun to bring in the new season.

The game was not completed at press time for results, go to recordnet.com .

Bonar, 60 and also a Lodi resident, and Chamberlain have followed hockey in Stockton since its inception, first with the ECHL s Thunder and now with the AHL s Heat.

Opening night was a little different with the Thunder, Bonar said. It s a higher league now , and just a little different. And you come out here to welcome the team and hope for a good year.

The Heat played a preseason game last week, but that s much different than dropping the puck for the regular season.

This is real, said Ripon resident Jim Wilson, 55. The season ends in April and you wait for it to come back. It s always a good moment.

The Heat also has a new goal song this year, but it took a while to find out what it was. After falling behind 1 0 in the first period, the Heat scored when San Jose forward Nikolay Goldobin sent a no look pass right to Stockton forward Matt Frattin, who put the puck past San Jose goalie Troy Grosenick 9 45 into the second period.

The goal brought about the horn and AC/DC s Shot Down In Flames Max Domi Jersey, which was chosen by a fan vote out of eight contenders for the goal song.

It didn t take long for the crowd to hear it again, as the Barracuda quickly made another mistake. Defenseman Mirco Mueller turned over the puck in his own zone and Stockton forward Hunter Shinkaruk cashed in with a shot over Grosenick s shoulder off assists from Mark Jankowski and Garnet Hathaway.

It was a good start to the Heat s second season. Stockton Heat president Dave Piecuch said the franchise has been preparing for opening night and the new season since February, before the 2015 16 season ended.

Opening night is always a lot of fun, and we always get a good crowd, Piecuch said. We added a few things this year to see if we can make the experience better for our fans.

The most notable change is the Rinkside Suite which has been set up at the north end of the arena near the Zamboni entrance and can be purchased just like the upstairs suites. Piecuch said he plans to try it out at the beginning of the year and see if it catches on.

We re comfortable with the number, at least at the start of the season, Stockton general manager Brad Pascall said. We ll see how things work out in the next few weeks, as guys step up and earn jobs and such.

The Heat continues its three game homestand to start the season when it plays host to the Texas Stars at 7 p.m. Wednesday and the Tucson Roadrunners at 7 30 Friday. Tucson is formerly the Springfield Falcons http://www.azcoyotesshop.com/louis-domingue-jersey-c-28.html, and was purchased in the offseason by the Arizona Coyotes, who moved it to Tucson to be part of the AHL s Pacific Division.